A request thread that was tossed my way. This is a thread devoted to creating write-ups for the various superheroes and villains of the DC and Marvel Universe to get their characterizations down right, plus potentially how the various groups would interact into one gigantic meta-universe.

Here's my basic view of such a Universe (Earth-777):

* The majority of the Marvel Universe is concentrated in New York City, which remains as is.

* All of the United States' fictional cities are simply incorporated into the work.

* All the major fictional countries are also inserted as is.

* We'll be operating from the modern comic incarnations of the works for the most part.

* Lex Luthor was President for George W. Bush's first and second term. Because Lex is just too cool to miss.

* The SHIELD agency is international but has an American branch, which was taken over by HAMMER briefly.

* Lex Luthor appointing Norman Osbourne the head of SHIELD makes more sense this way.

* The Flashpoint Event created an alternate timeline while one similar to the original DCU is continuing on blissfully.

* Generally, the world is a much better place for more heroes--even with more villains. Examples include Genosha, New Krypton, Bludhaven, Coast City, and so on where the extra heroes made sure the big mass genocides never happened.

* While the primary basis is the comics, you can also incorporate elements you like from the video games, shows, and otherwise.

The country of Latveria, nestled in the Carpathian mountains, is a disproportionately powerful nation for something that merely compromises the former territories of Vlad Dracula. This is solely due to Doctor Victor Von Doom. During the Cold War, Doctor Doom managed to preserve the nation against communists despite effectively being in the middle of the Soviet Union (having your own custom built nuclear arsenal certainly will do wonders for your state security). He's pretty much hand built its computer and electronics industry. An industry that exists primarily to A:] Supply him with the Goods to carry out his own experiments and B:] Give Latveria a First World economy in a Second World region. In that order. Its substantial Romani population finds the country a welcome haven in a series of lands that hate them as second class citizens.

Given that Latveria is nestled next to the Satanic Eastern Orthodox Heresy spouting Zandia ruled by Brother Blood's theocracy and the Milosovich style dictatorship of Markovia (plus the relatively stable Western North German borderland of Symkaria), no one really wants to say Doctor Doom is the worst of the bunch. While respected as a researcher, Reed Richards' family being assaulted by Doctor Doom's forces on a monthly basis is not a high priority for the world's various governments to invade Latveria over. Due to faulty memory and secrecy, no one remembers Doctor Doom's attempts to take over the world. Others believe that, since Doctor Doom can trigger Armageddon at any time with his advanced weaponry, it's best to stay on his good side. Even Colonel Nick Fury of SHIELD has acknowledged that trying to assassinate Doom is futile. He's simply too powerful and well-guarded.

But who is Doctor Doom? The world's greatest criminal mind (exempting Lex Luthor)? The world's greatest scientist (again possibly exempting Lex Luthor and Reed Richards?)? The most powerful of Earth's mystics after Doctor Fate and Stephen Strange? Almost certainly so. While Superman, Thor, The Hulk, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern might possess the power to defeat Doctor Doom in a toe-to-toe battle; few believe that he would stay imprisoned for long. Even Doctor Ivo and T.O. Morrow acknowledge Doctor Doom is second to none in robotics.

Doom simply....is.

The self-styled "Black Knight of the World", the actual Doom is fairly honorable. Events like the supposed murder of his childhood love and cheating of Luke Cage out of a bill for $300 were probably either deceptions on his part or the work of his myriad Doombots. Doom's sense honor is flexible to say the least, but one should never believe that he will break his word or serve any party other than himself. Thus, Doom will never bend his knee to beings like Darkseid or Mephisto.

Doom is also not a racist. Mutants and other minorities find shelter in Latveria if they obey the Doctor. Thanks to his brief time travel jaunt into 2099 and his repair of Counter Earth's collapsed society, the Good Doctor has appreciated that his evil could be considered a sort of good if the circumstances of the world were sufficiently bad (which only feed his ego). These are his only redeeming qualities.

Doom is generous in victory but plays poorly with others. Magneto and Lex Luthor both despise Doom for his habit of snatching victory from the hands of his allies at the last minute. While Loki, oddly enough, admires him for his treacherous nature. The Red Skull, of course, recognizes Doom's one sympathy towards persecuted minorities is not going to allow any face to face meeting with them to last longer than it will take to reduce him to particles (though he's managed to occasionally deal with some Doombots).

In a world as filled with metahumans as Earth-777, Doom has many peers (but no equals). Ra's Al Ghul is a frequent visitor to his castle and one of the few beings who can chat at length with the Devil Doctor without fearing reprisal. Still, the Doctor is certain of his eventual victory. All things come to the patient....in time.

In Earth-777, the convoluted origins for Kristoff Vernard are far less so. In all likelihood, he is simply Doctor Doom's illegitimate son and heir which explains the man's vast grasp of technology despite his young age. Other possibilities include he is a survivor of Doctor Doom's tribe and one of the few genuine relatives that he has. A few hint that he is even a clone of Doctor Doom (which would fit Victor's narcissist qualities). These are the only rationale explanations as to why the Devil Doctor treats him with anything close to human affection. In general, Kristoff is everything that Doctor Doom himself is not. Kind, compassionate, and well liked by the people as opposed to Doctor Doom himself (who is merely respected----adored perhaps but never loved).

The Devil Doctor himself tends to view this as a weakness on Kristoff's part. Doctor Doom never intends to die but he realizes he'll eventually have to leave Latveria behind and Kristoff is meant to be his heir in such an occasion. Despite the fact it would be simplicity to overwrite Kristoff's personality with his own, Doctor Doom prefers to give him a modicum of free will. Doctor Doom believes that time will teach Kristoff the bitterness that he needs to eventually rule Latveria.

Doombots

The source for the myriad errors in the Doombots boils down to the fact that Doctor Doom is a rotten programmer. Bizarre, as you may imagine. Bluntly, A.I. has not been invented yet that can comprehend magic and Doctor Doom's mind is as much magic as science. Worse, Doctor Doom refuses to acknowledge his own personal flaws so he frequently tries to 'improve' the A.I. that depicts his unpleasant qualities in his mirror-dopplegangers. This only results in them invariably developing widely exaggerated or bizarre variants on Doctor Doom's own personality.

Why does Doom keep using them? Mostly because he has far too much to do. The Doombots effectively keep experiments and business running that he has lost interest in. Strange that Doctor Doom, of all people, has ADD.

And an excellent way to start up the setting. Doctor Doom and all his his plans, connections, etc. has always been one of the major elements of Marvel I liked. Thanks for listening to my request, can't wait to see what more you come up with, as well as what Libra and anyone else who joins in comes up with. Earth-777 is a great number for the universe.

Lex Luthor, IQ believed to be somewhere in the effect of 400, is widely reputed to be the smartest man in the world. The only believed individuals who might equal his intellect are Doctor Reed Richards (New York State P.H.D, Nobel Lariate), Doctor Victor Von Doom (Latverian University P.H.D---self granted), and M.I.T Valedictorian Anthony Stark. Lex Luthor, himself, never graduated college and recieved all of his degrees honorarilly. He made his first million selling a computer chip that he made in a Smallville Barn and never bothered to look back.

Lex Luthor's past is a bit of a mystery because he's a pathological liar. Lex Luthor has rigged birth certificates that say he's from Metropolis' Suicide Slums, has people who swear up and down he's from Smallville in Kansas, and he'll probably state he's the bastard son of a Vanderbildt if he thought it'd get him an angle or an inheritance. In the end, it doesn't matter. Lex Luthor doesn't care about the past. He only cares about the future and how it relates to him.

If you want to understand Lex Luthor, try and understand that you don't exist. Lex Luthor is a practical Solipsist. Everything in the universe exists in relationship to Lex Luthor. It's not so much that he's a sociopath, that would imply he's incapable of caring about others. It's just that you don't really have any relevance if you don't have a relativity to Lex Luthor. The reason Lex Luthor can and is willing to do the things that he does (both wonderful and horrible) boils down to this character trait. History judges men who shape the courses of destiny by their wills favorably and who made lasting changes. They forgive all of their mistakes if they suceed.

So, yes, Lex isn't a sociopath. He's a megalomaniac.

In general, Lex Luthor's Teflon like ability to bounce back from bad publicity is his most frustrating trait to superheroes. The fact Lex Luthor is a criminal is known to everyone from SHIELD to the Avengers to the Justice League. Hell, the average man on the street actually knows Lex Luthor is a criminal (Lex would never admit this). Unfortunately, people know it the same way they know that people lied about WMD. Lex Luthor is a slime but he's successful slime. The day after he's accused of robbing a bank is the day he's discovered the cure for Bird Flu or solved a hunger crisis. Luthor doesn't care about the people he saves, he just thinks its a good idea to have a bank of good publicity.

Unlike intellectual rival, Doctor Doom, Lex Luthor doesn't want to conquer the world. He thinks he's already done it. LexCorp owns Wallmart, Microsoft, IBM, has most of the United States weapons contracts sewn up, and can pretty much speed dial a third of Congress. His resignation from Presidency was because of 'fatigue.' A nice way of saying that he could no longer stand the fact he was being watched every minute by people looking for him to slip up. Being the 43rd President of the United States was just a paycut and a way to irritate his perpetual annoyance.

But really? Why does Lex Luthor hate Superman? It's the same reason he'd hate Charles Xavier and why he gets along well with Magneto and Mandarin (business associates both). Because, he cannot comprehend anyone who has the power to rule the world and doesn't try to. It's unnatural and maybe, just maybe, in some forgotten portion of his soul; he sees a mirror to just how ugly and empty his life really is.

Kal-El of Krypton. The Man of Steel. The Man of Tomorrow. He many names and he is the greatest hero on the planet. Kal-El isn't the strongest of all heroes in the planet. He has a number of peers in strength with Captain Marvel, The Incredible Hulk (who is always annoyed at the fact any of their contests is decided by the fact that Superman can fly), Thor, and Wonder Woman. He is, however, the most recognized and respected. The only superhero who commands almost as much respect is Captain America.

Honestly, Clark Kent is rather annoyed at times with the fact that everyone keeps trying to elevate him to godhood. He doesn't consider himself a moral paragon by any stretch of the imagination. He's broken his vow never to kill on a number of occasions, usually as a last resort (such as against the Phantom Zone criminals or beings like Darkseid who cannot be stopped any other way). Clark also feels guilt over his long standing deception to Lois Lane and other relatively minor acts of human nature. No, what separates Superman from the rest of the superheroes is the fact that he's never let it get to his head.

A interesting conversation once occurred between Steve and Clark Kent where the two of then awkwardly found out that the other was a personal idol. Clark Kent having grown up with his adoptive father's wartime stories of Captain America as a boy and Steve Rogers having awoken to find the world was still protected by a man wearing the colors of his homeland. Clark Kent has since gone on to become a citizen of the world but still fights for Truth, Justice, and the American Way (as shown by Steve Rogers' example).

Clark is aware of the deep responsibility that comes with being a superhero. Perhaps the only other superhero who feels the weight of his powers as keenly is Spiderman (another superhero that Clark is surprisingly close in mindset to). But whereas Spiderman's sense of responsibility is reinforced by a tremendous sense of guilt for his Uncle Ben's murder, Superman's is reinforced by a sense of joy. Each time Kal-El of Krypton saves a life, it is proof that he's doing the right thing and he doesn't let his few failures weigh him down as other heroes do.

Really, the reason that Superman so often gets feted by other superheroes is how well adjusted he is by comparison to most of them. He doesn't allow super villains to burden him with their crimes nor does he blame himself when he can't stop everything. He's saddened but he moves on. Kal-El's position on the United States Registration Act, as championed by Luthor holdovers, was one of the few sane ones during the proceeding. "I blame the Stamford Incident on the terrorist who heinously murdered 600 innocent people. Spitting on and reviling the people who died that day trying to stop him is a shameful act that I'll have no part of." Ironically, Superman as a citizen of the world was immune to the act anyway.

As for temptations, Superman doesn't think he's immune to them. Superman indulges his chief temptations from his powers. However, they aren't to dominate or control. Superman enjoys flying, eating foreign food in the country of their choice, and impressing the woman he loves (typically Lois Lane) with his parlor tricks. It takes a mind like Lex Luthor or Victor Von Doom or even Magneto to not realize that the gratitude of people for aiding them is enough for some people. That selfless servitude can, for men like Clark Kent, be its own reward.

Because of this, Superman is the measuring stick that all superheroes tend to set themselves beside. It is this inspiration that is perhaps Superman's greatest contribution to world peace.

WOW This is an awesome take on a DC/Marvel blending - I have but one request of you good sir... Once you are finished with sharing the details of the different cannon characters and how they might interact, would you offer up your ideas as to how to bring a group of players into such a setting as well? Give use a hook or two for both playing some established comic characters or playing some home-made ones as well.

As I can hear my own players asking : Do we get to pick a Marvel or DC PC to play or are we creating all new ones that would fit in such a world.

~ Wasabi ~Essentially not everyone can be a hero because some people need saving. And someone needs to be the guy to save the civilians from.

My personal view for the combined DC and Marvel Universe is that it's pretty much a world of adventure. Metahumans and Mutants have already filled the place with vast numbers of superhumans that are always interacting. This actually helps explain people's fear of Mutants to a large extent in this new and terrible world. While it's wonderful to have Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, and Superman; you have to acknowledge that the world is going to produce a lot less moral and nuanced people over time.

There's always all manner of crazy things going on in Earth-777. Superman, Green Lantern, Thor, and thier ilk are always busy with crises. Really, the Earth is almost a marked planet thanks to the fact that it's successfully intervened in the conflicts of the great myriad space empires about the galaxy (It's the Guardians of the UNIVERSE not the Galaxy and with over a million inhabitable worlds-the Earth has managed to tick off several dozen major powers in the cosmos). In fact, the world of Earth-777 has need of MORE heroes rather than less. For every great hero like Superman, there's a dozen nastier customers.

Only one monster like the Red Skull has to suceed in getting the Cosmic Cube to wipe the memories of all the various heroes in the world that he knows about and really, it's the end for humanity as we know it. It's a dangerous world but the planet has managed to produce many great heroes to help cope with the dangers that it has. Not every city is as blessed as New York or even Star City but every city should be.

In general, the heroes don't worry about whose the best. The REAL heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain America never make folk like the Red Bee or Vigilante feel less than their equals.

If you asked who was THE superhero team of New York City, you might get some people to name the Fantastic Four or the Avengers. However, if you ask who is the superhero in the singular then most would reply Spiderman. He's not even remotely close to Thor''s weight class or nearly as famous in his exploits as Captain America but he's the one that is dearest to their hearts. Sometimes, Peter Parker has difficulty with this concept given that the paper to most often report on the Wallcrawler's exploits is the Daily Bugle.

Spiderman doesn't do much outside of New York City, so most superheroes outside of New York expansive cape set don't know much about Peter Parker. Superman has occasionally dropped in to visit the man, surprised to find that Peter Parker thought of himself as a second stringer compared to him.

Likewise, he's met Nightwing who is one of the two acrobats in Earth-777 who can keep up with the superpowered Webslingler (Daredevil is the other). Overall, the Flash regrets the fact that he hasn't been able to team up with Spiderman more because he's the one man who understands what its like to be in awe of those around him while having a Rogue's Gallery personally devoted to making your life miserable.

Captain America has often called Spiderman the hardest working superhero in the world. This is incorrect, that would be Batman but Peter comes in a close second. Wolverine comes in about third, but he is less devoted to his job than always looking for the next fight to involve himself in. Spiderman has little time to join teams because he's always patrolling through New York looking for the next costumed perp to put back into prison. Spiderman, like the Dark Knight, doesn't ignore the small crimes and this keeps his schedule full.

Peter Parker's biggest problem, ironically is his greatest strength. Pete's self-sacrificing and inherently noble nature often leads him to make mistakes that hurt him in the end. Demons like Neron and Mephisto have noticed that Peter's soul is so inherently decent that they've been attracted to try and steal it despite the fact there's entire universes open to them. This is an honor that they rarely accord any. Unfortunately, Peter is so hard on himself that he fails to realize he's such a good person.

Pete is currently undergoing a period where his memory of his marriage to Mary Jane is erased and several other details of his life have been altered by Mephisto. This is unlikely to last but was designed to devastate Peter by removing his support network and turn him to evil. Mephisto might not have even bothered. Even in the face of the world against him, Peter always just climbs back into battle to fight the good fight.

It would be unfair to state this comes easy to Peter, though. Compared to Superman or even Batman, Peter is a model of mood swings and emotional turmoil. Peter takes the weight of the world on himself and it often threatens to crush him. He blames himself for events beyond his control and always ends up pushing himself well past the breaking point. Many other superheroes have tried to dissuade him from such a path but it's fairly ingrained in his psyche. It's ironic, his Uncle Ben would have been the first to point out that people make mistakes and his guilt is disproportionate to the deed he did.

Ironically, the Spiderman persona is different from Peter Parker in most respects. The swashbuckling cavalier and quipster is a way for Peter to cope with the hatred of villains while dismantling their own confidence. It's no wonder that many women are attracted to his warm and courageous personality while disdaining Peter's civilian guise.

In this respect, perhaps Batman understands Peter even more than the Flash.

Not only is a shared setting something I love. but the amount of work gone into the Bios is incredibly impressive. You've really boiled down to the essence of the characters and gotten rid of the bs that seems to creep in from time to time.

I kinda wish that the actual editors of the books read and understood the characters as well as you seem to.